Undertale is one of the best games ever. It has an amazing story, memorable characters, and awesome RPG mechanics. While at first it may seem like “just” a comedy, there is a lot of emotional depth to Toby Fox’s world.

Unfortunately, a popular pastime of many teenagers on YouTube is to whine about how “toxic” the fanbase of Undertale supposedly is. These comments, which never give examples, tend to be the most upvoted comments on almost video essay analyzing Undertale. Often, these low effort commenters will puff up their chest and declare that unlike MOST Undertale fans, THEY are the good ones, the non-toxicexception in the Undertale fanbase. They get thousands of upvotes from people who assert that yes, Undertale fans are like totally the worst, but they’re the exception! The silliest comment I’ve seen even attempted to draw a distinction between Undertale “fans” (those are the bad ones according to him) and Undertale “enjoyers” (the good ones like him.) Ah, truly a man of culture. Fans? Who ever heard of them? These teenagers are too smart to be fans. They’re enjoyers, you see.

But wait. If the Undertale fanbase was so toxic, you might be asking, then why aren’t toxic comments the ones that are being upvoted in videos praising Undertale? Why are so, so, so many people denouncing all those horrible Undertale fans, and why aren’t these horrible Undertale fans anywhere to be seen? And what toxic things do these fans do anyway? Are they racist? Sexist? Promoters of suicide? What is the basis of the “toxic” label as it applies to this fandom?

Well, I didn’t join the fandom until summer of 2018, but I did my best to get to the heart of the matter and I believe I have the answer. You ready? The main reason why people consider the Undertale fanbase toxic is because back in 2015, a bunch of Undertale teenage fans launched personal attacks on Markiplier because they didn’t like the voice he gave Sans in his playthrough.

In short, millions of Undertale fans feel the need to say “I’m not like other Undertale fans” because a few teenage trolls were mean in 2015. This is not particularly toxic compared to fanbases like Star Wars and Attack On Titan, yet thankfully Star Wars fans don’t feel the need to say “I’m not like other Star Wars fans” every other post they make. Maybe there is a toxic side in the Undertale fanbase. That toxic side is the one that demands you denounce other fans and consider yourself morally and intellectually superior to them.

This needs to stop. The Undertale fanbase is amazing, filled with lovely, artistic people from all walks of life. They are some of the kindest people of any fandom I’ve ever met. Fitting for a game that teaches empathy, forgiveness, and racial equality.

Just take at that adorable art someone made of a cute Frisk dancing with Sans. Imagine how much fun she had making that art about characters she cared about in a fandom she is happy to be a part of. That is what a normal Undertale fan is like and there is nothing toxic about it. The fanbase is not toxic. Get a new meme. The virtue signalling against Undertale fans is the only toxin circulating in an otherwise amazing fanbase.